Labor and Delivery

by Jamie Davis

  Kurt shook his head. “I don’t think this company is very comfortable with the use of magic. So far nothing they’ve considered secure has been protected by any significant magical systems. I think they are pretty much against the use of magic from an institutional standpoint. I’d pay attention and look for mostly electronic systems.”

  Marci nodded and moved up next to him. “Let’s do this together, then. You watch for changes in the direction of the baby’s trail. I’ll start scanning for anything that looks like electronic residue or radiation in the known wavelengths.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that?”

  “Electromagnetic radiation is very similar to magical energy fields in many respects. All of it is just waves of energy around us. Some things harness one type. Different things harness another. Being able to look into that spectrum is one of the ways I locate the presence of the gates when I’m close to them. There’s a touch of technology and magic at play in the portals.”

  Kurt nodded. “Let’s go, then. We’ll take it slow so you can watch out for traps.

  Kurt was glad he brought Marci up with him. She spotted the trip wire in plenty of time to stop him from stepping into it.

  “Careful, Kurt. Someone has put a wire across the path here. They must have wondered or suspected you might be following Brent. This has to mean we’re close.”

  Kurt shut down his tracking magic. The second he did, he was overwhelmed with fatigue. He sat down against a tree to rest. He hadn’t used magic for that long a time at one sitting since he was in the army. Marci came over and offered him a canteen of water. He smiled and took it from her.

  “You OK?” She asked.

  “I am,” Kurt replied. “Just a little drained. I don’t use that much magic anymore and I’m a little out of shape. Just give me a chance to catch my breath and we can figure out what to do next.”

  “Let me see if I can figure out where this tripwire goes and what it does,” Marci said. “It may just trigger an alert rather than a trap or other active security measures.”

  “Be careful, whatever you do.”

  “Don’t worry. I will.”

  While Kurt sat and rested, Marci headed off along the side of the trail, crouched over and peering at the ground. She came back a few minutes later.

  “The tripwire seems to extend for some distance and curves around to the west. I think it surrounds the entire perimeter of something. It forms a big circle. That might mean our secret lab is somewhere in the center. I couldn’t see anything through the trees and it’s starting to get dark. We should find a place to rest and settle in for the night. We can start looking for the lab in the morning.”

  Kurt nodded and looked back the way they came. “There was a clearing about a half a kilometer back. That’ll move us far enough away that no one will be able to spot us or hear us from the lab if anyone comes out to check their perimeter.”

  “Good idea. You lead the way.”

  Kurt didn’t want to backtrack. Now that he knew Baby Allie was close by, he felt like he was abandoning her. He turned to follow Marci back to the clearing for the night. Kurt glanced back over his shoulder, thinking about how Brent was treating the baby. “Don’t worry, kid,” he thought to himself. “We’ll be back to get you.”

  Chapter 19

  Kurt woke with a start when Marci clamped a hand across his mouth. “Be quiet, people are walking by on the path,” Marci whispered.

  Kurt nodded and slowly sat up. He reached for his rifle, then remembered he was out of ammo. Setting it down he drew his pistol and joined Marci taking cover by a fallen tree.

  As he crouched beside her, she pointed towards the trail leading towards the lab ahead. Kurt spotted them right away. Four men, all wearing uniforms with a green and brown camouflage pattern, walked down the trail.

  The strangest thing about them was they led a struggling zombie between them. The infected person had been bound securely with straps around shoulders and elbows so the arms were tied to the sides. It was also muzzled by a standard plastic hockey goalie’s mask.

  It looks like they’ve captured one of the infected,” Kurt whispered. “I wonder why?”

  “It has to be for testing the antidote or for perhaps for formulating a different version of it, maybe?”

  Kurt shrugged and then tapped Marci on the shoulder and ducked down behind the log. The four men and the zombie were coming closer as they moved down the trail towards their hiding spot. Kurt could make out their voices now.

  “…I don’t like going out on these hunting trips anymore, Fred. It’s getting harder and harder to find individuals who wandered away from the herd.“

  “I’m right there with you, Bob. There has to be some way we can capture a larger group of them all at one time and bring them back to the lab that way.”

  “You guys are nuts,” another voice said. “Why would you want to capture a whole group of them. It’s hard enough to bring one in without getting bit, and there are four of us. How would you possibly handle a larger group all at once?”

  “I’m not sure, but the way we are gathering them one at a time is becoming more and more dangerous. That last group that went past us almost stumbled onto our hiding place. It was only pure dumb luck they didn’t turn in our direction and walk right into us.”

  “Don’t worry Fred,” the first voice said. “We’ve done our bit. We are off the rotation on hunting parties for another month. Let the next crew figure out how they’re going to make it work.”

  “Bob, you seem to forget there aren’t that many of us left. Joe’s team never came back from their little hunting trip. You know what that means. With only twelve of us remaining in the lab, it’s going to be our turn again sooner than later. Eventually, there aren’t going to be any of us left, and for what? We already have the vaccine. We don’t need to do any more experiments, but the boss insists we continue collecting specimens.”

  “Don’t forget we volunteered for this job. The pile of money we’re going to make when we get back to Earth Prime is going to be enough to set us up for the rest of our lives.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. You already have your orders to cycle home. My rotation here still has three months left.

  “Hey Fred and Bob, cut your whining. Get your key card out so we can put this guy in containment and let ourselves back into the lab. I’d like to get a shower and wash some of the stink off me,” a fourth voice said.

  The four men and the zombie passed by Kurt and Marci’s position. The two of them peaked over the top of the log, watching the backs of the group as they headed towards the lab down the path.

  “They have a key card. If we can get that, we can get in,” Marci said, drawing her two pistols.

  “It doesn’t mean we get to kill them, Marci. I’ve seen enough killing on this mission to hold me for a long time. I don’t mind killing zombies as much but you know I draw the line at people who aren’t already dead.”

  “I’m not sure these guys deserve to live, K.C. You heard them. They have a vaccine and could already deploy it to the survivors in that settlement to the west. They aren’t doing it, are they? They are sitting on that medicine so that they can make money.

  “But that doesn’t mean they deserve to die. Let’s get them wrapped up and let the authorities and the Lord take care of them.”

  “Well, right now they’re getting away. If we’re going to get that key card from them, we need to hurry up and come up with a plan.”

  “You’re right about that. Let’s follow them. An opportunity will present itself if we keep our eyes open. They don’t sound like they’re tactically trained. It sounds more like they’re just some sort of lab tech pressed into doing capture missions.”

  Marci nodded and started moving through the brush paralleling the group from behind. Kurt followed right behind her. He holstered his pistol and pulled out his stun baton for the first time on this mission. He finally had a reason to use it at this point.

  They follo
wed the group until they reached the area where the tripwire circled the perimeter of the lab.

  “That tripwire isn’t for people like us,” Kurt whispered as he realized its purpose. “It’s there to alert them when the infected pass through their region so they can send out another capture party and bring more specimens in.“

  Marci nodded. “That makes sense. Let’s stay on the trail. If we can catch them when the door is open we might be able to slip inside the lab without anyone noticing us.”

  Kurt and Marci watched as the team hustled the captured zombie up to the tripwire and then lifted him over it before stepping over themselves.”

  Kurt and Marci waited until they continued down the trail a little bit farther then crossed over the tripwire themselves, careful not to disturb it. They followed the four men through the woods until they reached a low rise with a clearing up ahead.

  It took Kurt a minute to realize it wasn’t a hill but actually a buried building disguised to look like a hill. They were even trees and bushes planted on it. He pointed and crouched behind some bushes with Marci. The four men ushered their prisoner around the side of the hill.

  “Look,” Marci said. “You can see where there are hidden windows camouflaged by netting in the sides of that hill. I don’t know if anyone is looking out but let’s be careful about moving past them.”

  The two of them moved towards the men circling the hill. They had to be heading for the entrance. Now was the time to make their move. Kurt raced to catch up to Marci as she rushed ahead. He hoped she didn’t do anything rash.

  The four men stopped at a three-meter vertical rock outcropping. One of them reached out and tapped on one of the stones. The rock face disappeared. It was merely a holographic projection over the front of a cinder block wall.

  There was a steel door set in the wall with a keypad next to it. As the four men stood there and one pulled a keycard from his pocket, Marci charged out of the underbrush at them.

  Kurt cursed and ran out right behind her. He struggled to keep up with her and hoped she didn’t get hurt charging out first like that.

  Kurt snapped out his hand, deploying the stun baton to its full half meter length. He smacked it against the back of one of the men’s head as he ran past.

  The stun charge in the baton kicked in and dropped him straight to the ground.

  Kurt ran by trying to keep up with Marci.

  She had already used her rifle butt to club another one of the men in the back of the head. His eyes rolled up in their sockets and he fell over unconscious.

  The two remaining men at the doors turned around.

  “What the…?” The man closest to Kurt said.

  He never got another word out or finished his statement because Kurt reached out and thrust the end of his baton at the center of the man’s chest. The charge released and the man’s body jerked and spasmed for a second before falling to the ground.

  Marci had her flechette gun pointed at the final member of the lab team and pressed up against the hidden building, spinning him around so his face slammed against the cinder block wall.

  He raised his hands over his head as he cried out. “Who the hell are you people? Why would you attack us like that?”

  “Because, scumbag, you deserve it,” Marcie said. “What do you think you’re doing capturing zombies and holding onto a preventive vaccine when people need it out there. I call that pretty scummy, wouldn’t you?”

  “Hey, I’m just a guy doing a job. I didn’t know what all was going on here when I first arrived. Then it was too late to get back to complain about it. Now I’m stuck here just like everyone else.”

  Marci snarled and dug her rifle’s muzzle into the man’s back.

  Kurt flinched. He thought she was going to pull the trigger. “Marci, settle down. He can get us in and give us some information on what we are going to find inside.”

  “I don’t need to know any more than we already know. There are more scumbags like this guy in there.” Marci reached up and grabbed the keycard out of his hand. “All we have to do is swipe this and get inside.”

  “What are we going to do about the zombie over here?” Kurt asked. He looked back and then stared in disbelief. The tied up zombie was gone. “Damn, he must’ve run off when we attacked the others. I didn’t pay attention to it because he wasn’t dangerous.”

  Marci shrugged. “He’s not dangerous now, either. He’s all trussed up, so it’s not like he’s going to be able to attack anybody.”

  “Good point,” Kurt said. “Look just tie this guy up and gag him. Then help me do the same with these other guys. We’ll leave them out here. If they’re lucky none of the infected will come by while we’re inside.”

  “It would serve them right if somebody did come by,”

  “Hey, come on,” their prisoner said. “Don’t be like that. I’ve got a family. I’m just trying to make money to help with my family. Don’t you understand?”

  “What about all the families who have become infected while you were here hiding a cure?” Marci asked.

  The man opened his mouth to answer and Marci shoved a wad of cloth in it stifling his response. Then she kicked him behind the knees, dropping him to the ground.

  While Marci tied up the single conscious member of the hunting team, Kurt started tying the arms and legs of the other three.

  He stood when he was finished and glanced at Marci. “We’re going to need to move carefully once we get inside. We don’t know the layout and we don’t know how they’re armed.”

  “Just understand, K.C., if someone shoots at me, I’m shooting back.”

  Kurt nodded. He understood that. He didn’t like killing, but he didn’t want her to risk her life needlessly trying to avoid it. As for himself, he’d stick to the stun baton for the rest of this part of the mission.

  Marci grabbed the keycard from her pocket and walked up to the door.

  She turned to Kurt. “Ready?”

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 20

  Marci swiped the keycard and the building’s outer door buzzed and popped open. Kurt grabbed it and swung it open and darted inside, ready to take on anyone who happened to be standing there.

  Kurt found himself inside a locker room. Lockers lined one wall with a long bench in front of them. Opposite the lockers, on the other side of the room, there were a pair of shower cubicles and an open doorway that looked like it led to a bathroom with several sinks and toilet stalls.

  He opened one of the lockers. There was a white lab coat inside. He opened another one and found a similar lab coat. Kurt had an idea and grabbed the coat from the second locker and handed it to Marci. “Here, put this on. It will help us catch anyone by surprise. They’ll see the white coat first and that will give us the advantage.“

  Kurt grabbed the first lab coat and put it on. Then he moved to the door at the far end of the locker room. There was a small window in it at eye level. He peeked through it and saw a long, plain hallway beyond, extending into the building.

  He didn’t see anybody so he popped open the door and went through into the passage with Marci right behind. Ahead of them, the corridor ended in a cross passageway going left and right. Kurt pointed ahead and the two of them moved forward.

  They almost reached the end of the corridor at the T-junction when they heard voices coming from the right.

  Kurt jumped to the righthand corner with his back pressed against the wall. Marci came up beside him with her rifle held ready. Kurt thumbed the power button on his baton and felt it hum to life through the grip as the stun charge powered up.

  A man and a woman approached, discussing experimental results of some sort. They walked past, heading straight down the cross corridor without even a glance towards the locker room.

  Kurt jumped out and swung the baton, catching the male in the white lab coat at the base of his neck. The charge fired on contact and he dropped to the floor in a heap.

  The woman, wearing camo fatigues like those
worn by the capture team outside, spun around before Kurt could bring his baton around to strike her, too.

  She raised her arm to block the incoming blow with her forearm.

  Marci came up beside Kurt, swinging the butt of her rifle in the woman’s direction but she twisted her body and ducked under the blow.

  The woman turned her twisting duck into a spinning kick at Marci. The blow caught her in the abdomen and knocked her to the floor.

  Kurt swung his baton in for another attack, narrowly missing the woman’s head as she jumped backward after recovering from her kick at Marci.

  The woman drew a pistol and pointed it in Kurt’s direction. He dove back into the locker room corridor just as the booming sound of two gunshots echoed through the hallway. Chips from the cinderblock wall broke off as the bullets impacted right next to Kurt’s head.

  That was too close for comfort. He kept his back against the wall just around the corner from the woman, waiting for the woman to come around the it with her pistol.

  Marci rolled over on the floor and fired her pistol at the woman. There was a grunt of pain, then the sound of footsteps running away.

  “Damn. I think I winged her, but I didn’t take her out.”

  “Never mind about that, Marci. Get after her.”

  Marci jumped to her feet as Kurt came back around the corner. He followed her as she ran down the hallway. It curved around to the left following the outside curve of the false hillside.

  “Careful, don’t run into an ambush,” Kurt warned.

  Marci skidded to a stop just in time as two more shots rang out. Bullets slammed into the wall right next to her.

  She dove to the floor and rolled forward and came up on one knee with her rifle at her shoulder. Marci fired another burst of hypersonic darts down the hallway. The flechette rounds ricocheted off the block walls sending concrete chips flying in a cloud of dust.

  “I don’t know who you two are, but you’ll need to do better than that,” The woman called out. “I’ve already called for help and you’re about to have a whole pile of whoop-ass dropped on you.”